1 for 1

An article entitled "Golden spending in the silver years" in the ST mentioned that research has shown that our life time spending habits has a "hump" shape, peaking at middle age and declining afterwards. Across products post-middle age Singaporean  spend less on apparels, dining, entertainment and services than their younger counterparts. The research also shows that older Singaporeans spend more on food at fresh market and store brands, suggesting a substitution for cheaper alternatives with the reduction in disposable income.

It certainly is happening in my household where the husband is in charge of supermarket shopping. Imagine my irritation when I found bottles of Fairprice light soya sauce in the kitchen cabinet. I have tolerated Fairprice Hainanese Kaya and fine with Fairprice kitchen towels, toilet rolls, cleaning detergents etc, but what a poor cook like me needs is better quality sauces no matter how slight the difference may be. 

Now I think what the researchers have missed out is the psychological aspect of thrift in older people, when ascribing the lower spending amongst older people solely to lower disposable income. Amongst friends I have noticed an increased discretion for value meals when eating out even amongst those who are known to be quite wealthy. Perhaps that's the reason for the huge proliferation of one-for-one dining offers, "second piece at 50% discount" and "2nd person travels at $10" marketing strategies to grab the baby boomers' consumer $.

As for myself, I find that I am gradually losing excitement in shopping. I don't know whether it is an age thing or due to attending Buddhist class where the teachers always remind us against craving and about the impermanent nature of life. Thus when I am at the shopping malls the thought of a wardrobe full of clothes which need to be discarded by someone someday when I am no longer around deters me from buying. It is also rather strange but merchandise in general do not seem as appealing as they used to be and it is becoming hard for me to fall in love with a piece of clothing, accessory or bag. Maybe you can call it consumer fatigue. On the other hand my expenditure on personal well being has certainly increased. So a high proportion of my monthly expenditure includes facial, hair treatment, massage, bone building exercise, not to mention medical insurance premium.

So between my husband and me apart from travelling expenses we don't really contribute much to the economy through our spending habits. In fact a lot of our purchases of short durables are made outside Singapore like in Johor, Indonesia, Thailand and London's Premark that sells Ts at 2 GBP. However it will be expected that as we age medical expenses will definitely be the big ticket item. My only hope is that my husband's thrift and obsession for value will not make him force me to go for some extensive health screening when hospitals start to offer one for one packages.